Orgasm From Exercise: All Hail The Female ‘Coregasm'?

Do you really have to do those much-touted kegel exercises? Not necessarily, new research claims. According to a recent study, the only fitness regimen you need to enhance your sexual pleasure may be your morning workout.

Though so-called “coregasms” -- female orgasms induced by core muscle exercises -- have been discussed anecdotally for years (even Alfred Kinsey mentioned them in his famous 1953 report), these findings from Indiana University offer scientific proof of their existence, says Medical Xpress. If you were looking for motivation to get yourself out of bed and into a gym in the morning, here it is.

The study, led by Debby Herbenick, co-director of the Center for Sexual Health Promotion at IU, found that these “coregasms” were associated with a number of different exercises including abdominal workouts, biking and spinning, lifting weights and climbing poles or ropes. And this latest information about “coregasms” could do more than just encourage women to replace their vibrators with a spin class. “These data are interesting because they suggest that orgasm is not necessarily a sexual event," and they may also teach us more about how orgasms happen physiologically, Herbenick told Medical Xpress.

Herbenick and co-author J. Dennis Fortenberry, M.D., professor at the IU School of Medicine, surveyed 370 women, ranging in age from 18 to 63 for the study, all of who had already had some sort of exercise-induced sexual experience. 124 of the women had experienced exercise-induced orgasms (EIO) and 246 had experienced exercise-induced sexual pleasure (EISP) before the study began. Of the women who had EIOs, 51.4 percent had done so while engaging in abdominal exercises -- and usually after multiple sets of them, reported LiveScience -- another reason not to slack off after the first set. It only took the researchers five weeks to recruit all of the women they surveyed, which indicates that the phenomenon may not be all that rare. And 40 percent of the women involved reported that they had experienced sexual pleasure from exercise at least 10 times.

Unfortunately though, “coregasms” apparently aren't all pleasure. Many of the women surveyed said that they felt self-conscious exercising in public spaces, lest they have an orgasm while lifting weights and lose control. And while this research indicates that exercise can lead to orgasm without the help of sexual fantasies, it doesn’t tell us whether or not exercise can actually improve women’s sex lives. After all, these orgasms aren't happening during sex.

But Hebenick seems hopeful that her research will benefit women. If nothing else, it could lead to a deeper understanding of the process and experience of female orgasm. “It may be one way for women to learn more about how their bodies work in that regard,” she told LiveScience.